By Roland Piquepaille
Based on ideas taken from Wikipedia and dodgeball, Cellphedia allows its members to broadcast questions to its community and receive answers, using SMS text messaging on cell phones. Here is how it works, according to "Cellphedia Melds Facts with Mobile Smart Mobs" from E-Commerce Times. First, you register for free on the site and you indicate what are your subjects of interest. If you want to ask a question, it is sent to all the members who expressed interest in this particular subject. Finally, the first answer received by Cellphedia is sent back to you. This means that later answers, which could have been more accurate, are discarded. But this service is still very young and its creator is working hard to improve it. Read more...Here is a general description of this service, created by Limor Garcia as part of her thesis while at New York University.
Inspired by Wikipedia, the all-volunteer, online community encyclopedia, and Dodgeball, a cell phone-based social networking service, Cellphedia allows its members to broadcast questions to its community and receive answers, all through a mobile phone.
Registration for the service is free at the Cellphedia Web site. After registering, members choose areas that they're interested in -- art, architecture, food, music, etc. A member can ask a question in any area, but the questions go to people who have chosen the area as one that interests them.
Questions and answers are sent and received using SMS on your cell phone. And as I wrote above, only the first answer received by CellPhedia is sent back to the person who asked a question.
Unlike Wikipedia, answers to questions via Cellphedia aren't subjected to community review to assess their accuracy. And while multiple members might answer a question, only the first answer received by the system is forwarded to an inquirer.
Garcia noted that group editing of answers is her next priority for the service. "I'm going to open it up for people to correct answers as well," she said.
Interviewed for this article, Howard Rheingold, from Smart Mobs, said that Cellphedia was another example of the convergence between technologies such as cell phone, computers and Internet.
"The phone gives you instant communication wherever you are," he explained. "And the Internet enables you to connect with people who share an interest. Combining that gives you the ability to create something like Wikipedia with a social network."
"It remains a question about whether she's going to get a sufficient critical mass," he noted. "Wikipedia works because there's a sufficient number of people working on it."
Now, let's look at some examples of questions and answers stored on the Cellphedia central server. As you can see, there are all kinds of requests.
- Short question, short answer
Q: age new pope
A: 78 - Short question, long answer
Q: what's a phreak
A: a phreak is someone who is highly skilled in the use of phone systems. phreaksare considered a subset of hackers. - Long question, short answer
Q: does someone know how to install osx tiger on to an ipod for later installation on an ibook?
A: not possible - A question without answer
Q: where can i find info on time travel?
For another point of view about this service, you can read this article from Wired News, "Put Some Wisdom in Your Pocket."
And please keep in mind that the service is still young, so it remains to be seen if it can reach a 'critical mass' and become a hit.
Sources: John P. Mello Jr., E-Commerce Times, May 19, 2005; and various websites
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